The Ottawa Senators’ head coach has a year left on his contract but, at this point, it’s anybody’s guess as to whether he’ll be back next season since that decision likely won’t be made by general manager Pierre Dorion until after draft lottery is held April 28 in Toronto.

That’s because the Senators need time to decide if they’re going to bring their coach back for his third season after the club took a huge step backward and finished 30th overall following a trip to the Eastern final against Pittsburgh last spring.

While Dorion and assistant GM Randy Lee are working on a full review of the organization after the American Hockey League’s Belleville Senators also missed the post-season, it’s interesting to note that coaching jobs around the NHL are slowly starting to become available.

The Calgary Flames moved into the market for a coach on Tuesday when they sent Glen Gulutzan packing along with assistants Dave Cameron, a former Ottawa coach, and Paul Jerrard. The Flames also missed the playoffs and GM Brad Treliving decided it’s time to change the channel.

The New York Rangers were the first out of the gate when they gave coach Alain Vigneault his walking papers only hours after the club’s final regular-season game against Philadelphia on April 7 because they felt he wasn’t the right fit with a rebuild on the way.

Vigneault is believed to have two years left on his contract at a whopping $4.5 million per year. The talk is the Rangers are willing to eat some of that money to get the contract off the books and Vigneault back to work.

The Dallas Stars are also looking for a head coach after Ken Hitchcock announced his retirement a couple of days after the club missed the playoffs.

There are officially three openings right now, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be more soon.

Carolina Hurricanes coach Bill Peters, who has never made the playoffs in his four years with the organization, reportedly has an out clause until Friday in his $1.6-million-per-year contract, and with no general manager in place there you’d have to think he’s trying to move on.

You also have to wonder about the future of some of the guys who are currently in the first round of the playoffs.

The Capitals got up off the mat with 3-2 double-OT victory Tuesday to cut the Columbus Blue Jackets’ series lead to 2-1, but if Washington doesn’t get its act together and find a way into Round 2, then Barry Trotz, in the final year of his deal, could be fired.

Would the Tampa Bay Lighting make a change with Jon Cooper if the club doesn’t beat the New Jersey Devils in Round 1?

Clearly, there’s a lot of uncertainty, and the Senators need to decide if they want to get involved in the shuffling of the chairs that’s about to take place on the coaching carousel, which is likely a big reason why Dorion is playing the waiting game.

It’s fair to say Dorion and Lee had pointed discussions with Boucher and the staff, including assistants Marc Crawford, Martin Raymond, Rob Cookson, Pierre Groulx (goalies) and Kris Young (video), in the exit meetings on April 10 because what happened this year was unacceptable.

It was made clear to them that, if they’re going to be back next year, they have to buy into the program that young players have to be given a good opportunity to play and that the team has to practise more. Those two areas weren’t properly handled this season.

When the Senators hired Boucher, they did an exhaustive search, with 10 candidates interviewed for the post, including Mike Yeo (now in St. Louis) and Bruce Boudreau (now in Minnesota), and Dorion has to decide if he’s willing to go through that process again.

Does the club want to add a coaching search to the long list of other of other things to do, including getting ready for the draft, and trying to re-sign captain Erik Karlsson and centre Matt Duchene, along with restricted free agents Mark Stone and Cody Ceci?

The Senators stated in their town hall meetings with season-ticket holders last week that they expect to compete for the Stanley Cup in three to five years, and with a decision on the future of Karlsson pending this summer it’s hard to say how this team will look next season.

The automatic thinking is that if the Senators don’t expect to have success immediately, then why make a coaching change? Bring Boucher back and, if the club gets off to a bad start, then make a move 20 games into the season.

Dorion is right to take his time in determining if he wants to make a coaching move. A lot is happening right now and a big reason why the Flames made the decision they did with Gulutzan is there’s someone out there who interests them.

Time is hardly of the essence for the Senators after missing the playoffs, so it’s best for them to take their time and see what happens.

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